


On Something Like Being Single

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: Angst, Drama, Futurefic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-02-18
Updated: 2003-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-01 08:17:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/354283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There's a difference between alone and lonely.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Something Like Being Single

## On Something Like Being Single

by zahra

<http://www.obsessedmuch.net/dysfunctional>

* * *

One toothbrush. 

One pair of bedroom slippers. 

One sink with soapy film around the edges. 

One person coming home to an empty penthouse every night of the week. 

Lex thinks he's always been alone. The only thing that's ever changed is the forwarding address for his attorney's monthly statement. 

* 

Clark comes to visit, and he leaves his sneakers all over the place. 

The first fifty times that Lex trips over them, he doesn't mind. His toes do. 

Lex buys different shoes in the same size, and he leaves them lying around to remind him of what it's like when there's someone else there. 

He doesn't think that Clark notices. 

He's wrong. 

* 

One cup of coffee in the morning with two sugars and whole milk. 

One bowl of cereal. 

Sometimes, instead of cereal, Lex will have eggs. 

Nobody ever has just one egg. 

* 

Lex is in love with his best friend, but he pretends that that's irrelevant. 

What's important is Clark's friendship. The companionship he gives to Lex. It's like a mutually beneficial business relationship, and Clark's company, or the company that always seems to be _with_ Clark: his friends and his family and his staff job on the Met U student paper that he's always talking about, they're another part of what makes Clark so valuable. 

Clark has a whole world, and Lex is just one little part, so Lex will never ask for more from Clark. 

He will never ask for help. 

Lex has always been on his own. 

He doesn't expect that to ever change. 

* 

Lex buys Clark's favorite DVDs even though he hates Bill and Ted and will never understand the thrill of 'Hoosiers.' He does like Gene Hackman, however, so he's more tolerant than he might be otherwise. 

He bought Goonies for himself though, and he knows where Data's Bullet Blinders went wrong. 

On the nights that he's not mocking Metropolis society or catering to those whims he doesn't really care about anymore, Lex sits at home and watches TV. 

He prefers his popcorn with salt over butter, and on Thursdays he watches Survivor and CSI back to back. 

He has a Tivo, but he doesn't use it that much. 

Sometimes Clark comes over and they watch television together. Lex keeps the buttered popcorn for those occasions. 

No one was ever won over by slick, buttered fingers and kernels of corn. 

Clark has always been different. 

* 

The problem with the penthouse is that it's just that, a _house_. 

A house and a home are not the same thing. 

Lex did have a home once, for three days, but the only reason he had that is because he was expelled by the only family he's ever known. 

For some people home and family are synonymous. 

For Lex, not so much so. 

If home is where the heart is, there's some concern that Lex's heart died along with his mother, thirteen years ago. 

* 

He's not lonely; he's just alone. 

There is a difference. 

Some things are meant to be. 

Some things change of their own accord. 

* 

Lex buys Clark's favorite cereal even though he doesn't like Corn Pops. 

Sometimes Lex eats them for breakfast even though he has more than enough sugar in his coffee. 

They don't taste bad, but they don't taste good either. 

He doesn't try to explain when Clark starts sleeping on the sofa, and they have breakfast together in the morning. 

* 

Clark says Lex needs to stop working so hard. 

Clark says Lex needs to take a vacation. 

Clark says a lot of things. 

Clark is never with Lex on the nights that he's home alone. 

Clark never says that Lex needs to find someone else. 

* 

Lex is subtle. 

Other people are more obvious. 

* 

One day the pair of shoes on the living room floor aren't ones that Lex bought. 

The next day, the number of empty bowls in the sink moves from three to five. 

The day after that, Clark goes back to classes, and Lex goes back to work. 

Clark is there when Lex gets home. 

It's not quite expected and not quite comfortable. 

Lex isn't sure how he feels about a change in his regime. 

* 

Two toothbrushes in the bathroom. 

Silk and cotton boxers in the top drawer. 

There's shaving cream in the cabinet, and shampoo in the shower. 

Clark says that he's not moving in; he's being smart. 

Lex just nods his head and goes back to making enough dinner for two. 

He doesn't always have to be alone. 

-finis- 


End file.
